Perlis ruler sells stake in F&N unit after land purchase deal scrapped

THE ruler of Malaysia's Perlis state has sold a 30 per cent stake in F&N AgriValley Sdn Bhd back to Fraser & Neave's subsidiary Fraser & Neave Bhd (F&NHB), after a deal for the latter to acquire a plot of land in Malaysia for dairy farming and milk production got scrapped. 

F&N AgriValley is a unit of F&NHB. 

The Perlis ruler, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail, entered into an agreement with F&NHB on June 1 to dispose of his interest in F&N AgriValley for RM3 million (S$1 million). 

Following the completion of the shares sale agreement on June 3, F&NHB has become the sole beneficial owner of F&N AgriValley.

In October last year, mainboard-listed F&N announced that it had entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement to buy about 4,454 hectares of leasehold land in Mukim Chuping, Perlis for RM156 million.

The seller, MSM Perlis Sdn Bhd, is a unit of refined sugar producer MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad. Meanwhile, the land, Ladang Chuping, is a palm oil, rubber and mango plantation.

Subsequently in April this year, F&N said that the seller had not granted any extension of time for the satisfaction of conditions under the sale and purchase agreement, and had rescinded the deal. 

In a bourse filing dated April 7, F&N said it was the intention of Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin together with F&NHB, through their investment in F&N AgriValley, to promote and facilitate the development of commercial agricultural activities that will bring further economic development to the state of Perlis.

Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin's 30 per cent equity stake in F&N AgriValley would have also facilitated the satisfaction of certain regulatory requirements pursuant to the conditions precedent under the sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of the land, Ladang Chuping.

Shares in F&N closed flat at S$1.49 on Wednesday.